Jonathan attacks Obasanjo again over open letter

President Goodluck Jonathan was in his element again yesterday. He lashed out at politicians “who think they own Nigeria, doing what we ought not to do, making statements we ought not to make and writing letters we ought not to write.”

Jonathan mentioned no names, but it was clear he was referring to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who rattled him with an 18-page letter.

He accused the former president of not acting like a statesman, saying Nigeria does not belong to any politician or a group of politicians.

The President spoke at the Anglican Diocese of Abuja, The Cathedral Church of the Advent in Lifecamp, where he attended the Christmas Day service with his family members and some senior government officials.

Obasanjo, in a December 2 letter made available to the media almost two weeks later, hurled some weighty allegations at the President, who was accused of training snipers and putting over 1,000 on a political watch list ahead of the 2015 elections.

Obasanjo said Jonathan would be “fatally flawed”, should he contest in 2015 because, according to the former president, he committed himself to a single term in office when he was seeking his party’s nomination.

But Jonathan, in his reply to Obasanjo’s letter, denied all the allegations.

He has referred the Obasanjo letter to security agents and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), who are to probe the allegations.

The President said yesterday: “For us at this time, especially we the politicians that we think we own this country, begin to think about next election and doing what we ought not to do, making statements we ought not to make, writing letters we are not supposed to write.

“I call on clergymen and statesmen who really own this country because this country belongs to our statesmen, traditional rulers, religious leaders, our men, our women and our youth. Nigeria does not belong to any politician or group of politicians. So we continue to urge you to pray for this country.”

On terrorism, he said: “The primate mentioned a number of issues that deal with a number of nations that deal with crises. For those who know about terrorism, countries that are infested with terror will hardly get out of it.

“If you look at a country like Pakistan – we even go to Pakistan to train our soldiers – in some parts of Pakistan, as we are talking now, there appears to be no government. So this country could have been worse.

“Look at the incidents in Abuja. The Police Headquarters was bombed, the United Nations (UN) building right here in the seat of government (was bombed). May be the next target would have been State House. So we have to thank God that we have been able to bring it to a reasonable level, though we are far from getting over. There are lots of challenges but we have to thank God.”

Speaking further on terrorism, Jonathan said: “Primate said if it were to be like Syria, what would we have done? Look at South Sudan. They were part of Sudan and they felt that they were being dominated. They have resources; there is oil in parts of South Sudan. They carried arms against the state. The entire world through the UN liberated them. This week, we will be going for the Security Council meeting under the African Union. My envoy just came back on Sunday from where he had conversation with them on how we could stop this madness.

“So we have to thank God, even though we still have this security challenges in our country, at least we are reasonably better.

“In terms of Nigeria having crisis, the Primate was saying: ‘can Ghana accommodate us? Can Sierra Leone accommodate us?’ I was just laughing because even now, there are so many Nigerians in these countries; the people are not even comfortable. From Cameroon to Senegal, Nigerians are everywhere. If not for political and diplomatic reasons they would have even asked some of them to leave. Then, assuming we have crisis, what would be the state (of things)? Where will you go? Is it the Atlantic Ocean? So, I urge you to continue to pray.

“I also thank the religious leaders in this country. They have been praying and I believe God has been hearing our prayers. We will do our best within the period that God has asked us to occupy the positions we are occupying.”

Delivering the Sermon titled “Peace and joy”, the Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh noted that the first coming of Jesus Christ brought peace and joy, which will only be full at His second coming.

According to him, no part of the world is enjoying total peace. He urged Nigerians to continue to thank God for not making Nigeria’s situation worse like other countries.

Quoting Luke 2: 10, Isaiah 9: n6, Galassian 3: 28, 2nd Corinthians 5: 18, John 14: 27 and Mattew 5: 9, he urged Nigerians to continue to be a source of joy to themselves, their neighbours and the world.

Rev. Okoh said: “But we have challenges; how can you be talking of peace and joy to people in Syria, DRC, Southern Sudan, Middle East, Egypt, Indonesia and Ukraine? Will they understand? How do you explain joy to somebody who is bed-ridden? These are the issues.”

Blaming the western world for these crises, he said: “The western world sells these arms to other parts of the globe and are still talking about peace. The money that people steal, they take it outside and they receive it and turn back to say these people are bad.

“Only God can give us peace and joy because man has so much complicated himself. If you have three good stories that give you joy, you are likely to have six stories that will upset you.”

He also urged Nigerians to pray against agents of darkness who are thirsty for blood.

Nigerians, Rev. Okoh urged, should continue praying for peace as they have no other place to go.

“Nigerians ought to be grateful to God and live responsibly. Do not join anybody to cause trouble. If we follow life diligently, Nigeria will blossom, your lives will blossom. Refugees are not the happiest of people; don’t make yourself a refugee,” he pleaded.

First Lady Dame Patience read the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 9: 2, 6 and 7.Dr. Jonathan read the Epistle from Hebrew 1: 1 to 12.

Minister of State (FCT) Olajumoke Akinjide, Minister of Information Labaran Maku, Minister of Police Affairs Caleb Olubolade, among others, attended the service.